Queen of Prythian -- Amarantha
by priamor
Summary: Villains never get their side of the story in any fairytale or fantasy book hence, kids and teenagers never know what caused them to be evil. In the end, villains remain evil eternally in the hearts if children. Evil was never born, it is made. For the fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas, this is a perspective and story of Amarantha. An epic prologue of ACOTAR.
1. Chapter 1

Queen of Prythian - Amarantha: Chapter 1

 _Dedicated to all the villains ever created._

My feet have darkened by the hard labour in the yellow musty fields, my blouse is worn out by the trickling heat and sweat. I was 15 when I worked as one of the many human slaves in the wheat plantations of the Summer Court. I also deliver the harvest every where in Hybern and Prythian, including the Spring Court. The Spring Court always seemed so magnificent, with its magical trees bearing an assortment of peaches, lush apples and pears in one tree. It spoiled me with the choices to eat easily on a long day's journey and some rest from the thick shades of their canopy. I walked into the Spring Court palace and there he was. The High Lord of the Spring Court. He looked majestic as always. Every time, the very moment I step into his presence, my heart swoons like anything. His beautiful broad shoulders and upright gait, his sparkly eyes and well trimmed stubble would always lure me to unmentionable fantasies. I see him greeting some important people one by one, oh the sparkle of his eyes sparkle even more when he smiles. So truly, so genuinely. What an honest smile he has. But that very moment, I look down at the state of my dress, the creases and the never ending patchwork done by an unskilled tailor. I remember the unkempt red hair on my head. Flotus was someone who I could never have, not in a million lifetimes. Not with my feeble human feet and crass frisky hair.

I enter to offer this week's harvest to the man in charge while stealing glances of the one I truly loved. I felt ashamed of the butterflies fluttering in my stomach as if someone could see what's going on inside me.

"Papa! Papa! I want to go horse riding with you! Please! Please! You promised!" Little Tamlin says as he comes running to his father and picks him up.

Flotus replies, "Patience Tammy boy, patience! We'll go in the evening, I promise." Such grace, such elegance can't be found anywhere in Prythian.

"No! You always say that but you never-"

Just then, I tripped, spilling some of the wheat on the floor and the only clothes I own. Asherah, she tripped me. She put her leg across while I was walking to wherever I had to go… In all her majestic pearls, shiny pink silk cascading down her waist. The daughter of the devil has come in form of the daughter of the High Lord of the Spring Court. I mouth a curse under my breath and look up at her. At those eyes. Almost my age.

"What happened?! Are you okay?" Flotus comes towards us.

"I am fine" I reply.

He comes closer to Asherah, holding her shoulders and speaks to me in a stern voice, "I was not talking to you, I was asking my daughter Asherah."

"Yes, I am okay Your Majesty Father, it's just the peasant girl was in my way," she says in that fake well-behaved voice to her father. She looks toward me with bulging eyes and says, "And look at all this mess you have created!"

"Apologize to Asherah this instant you lowly peasant! I will not tolerate such clumsiness in my palace!" He said looking down at me.

I look at him in the eye without blinking, those blue eyes were about to hypnotize me. Even though they were meant to hurt me. I've never had a closer look at him. I could swear my feet were melting to the ground. But, my blood boils thinking of the embarrassment I felt. All because of this useless product of him standing in expensive drabs and colors, which, by no means fit her black personality. "Your Majesty, but… Your Highness, she tripped me, it was not my fault." I say in a low voice but head held high.

"How dare you talk back to me and blame my daughter for your irresponsibility! Bend down and apologize to her or get your head severed right now!" He speaks with a loud voice.

I bend down, with the torturing pain of the peeling skin of my feet, my tight blouse about to rip apart if I bent even more. "I am sorry, Your Majesty, for the inconvenience I have cause you."

This shame never wore off and sparked little embers of anger- the sort of anger that would lead to my legacy of bloodlust and vengeance.


	2. Chapter 2

The war arrived. Blood. Body parts. Bombs, bombs, bombs. Fire. That was all I could see in the endless battlefields. I was in the second combat and drafted forcefully at the age of 18. King Hybern and all of the Faeries were at one side wanting for human slavery. Using magic to win, their ruthless ways of warfare and we humans? We had none and all we knew was to toil to make weapons that were just a mere tool that could be broken with one hand by the faeries. I ran amongst the angst of the explosions and the dismantled corpses in my olive combat suit. But, suddenly, I caught him. It was him. The little boy who saw me put down to shame, all grown up in front of me. It was Tamlin. He looked at me and said, "I don't understand how humans could choose the most incapable amongst them to fight!" He looked at me and laughed with the group of strong, tall, tough Faes with him. My heart sank to my knees but I still controlled myself.

"Hey, weren't you the one who blamed my sister for your clumsiness in my father's Court?" He gave a smirk, "well, you deserved it you dirty peasant."

"Yeah, but, don't you think we can use her a bit for our pleasure tonight huh?" One of the Faes with him nudged and winked at Tamlin. They all laughed and I just stood there.

I couldn't speak, I couldn't do anything. I just stood there with my arms folded around my chest like a coward and the weak person that I was.

"Hey, what you say, you, me, them, we can rock it tonight." He winks and a shiver goes through my spine.

"No." I say, hardly a whisper.

"What did you say?" Tamlin says pointing his ears to me.

"No!" I shouted as loud as I could.

"I don't take no for an answer, missy"

And he saw me with a disgusting look for power…

That moment, something lunged on my head, everything was hazy, I felt weak and motionless. I could hear muffled voices of Tamlin and his friends. And I knew what exactly was done to me. They took turns with me. And oh Gods. How it hurt. It hurt so much when they went inside me, I screamed and tried to fight with my legs and hands and my weak body. I felt a stinging sensation on my cheek, a slap from one of them to shut up and they covered my mouth. I was in tears, half conscious. And I couldn't do anything to stop. I felt weak. I felt powerless. The more he lunged in, the more it hurt. They won the war just like they won over me. Over my body.


	3. Chapter 3

Just like my heart separated to two bits, the humans and Fae are separated in Prythian. I still loved Flotus unrealistically. But love, what did it do to me? Love won't save me. "Love is weakness" someone told me. But power, power is everything. Power and vengeance I seek and power and vengeance I will get. I will never forgive their family for the pain and suffering they caused to me.

I will show them. I need such power that would make all of Prythian bow to their knees. Make them dance to my tunes. Make them tremble at the mention of my name. Make Tamlin and Asherah pay for what they did to me. I invaded deep and dark into the woods of the Spring Court. With every caution in every step. My chicken sacrifice waiting to be offered. The Suriel is waiting for me.


	4. Chapter 4

"Is this one of the Suriel?" I ask. He just stands there like a lifeless figure. A black and thin robe with a black hood on him, faceless, except for the two sparkling red beads illuminating from his hidden face in front of me. People were right about the danger, the risk and darkness he offered. I could feel it in my bones. A shiver went through my spine.

"What is it that you would want from me, oh human maiden? Why did you summon me today?" His ominous voice reaches to me, almost like a spell of hypnosis.

I bow and reply, "How do I gain power? How do I become the most powerful person of Prythian, make my enemies' knees sink into the ground until they get paralyzed?"

He said, looking up at the sky, "I can feel the blackness of your heart, the darkness for vengeance and bloodlust of your enemies. You have to become a Fae in order to be the ruthless, powerful being that you desire to be. In order to get this, you have to sacrifice the one thing that would hold you back."

"And what is that, Oh Suriel?"

He gave a longer than usual pause as if he was assessing my thoughts and intentions. "You have to sacrifice your heart to the Cauldron situated in the Castle of Hybern. You have to immerse yourself in the Cauldron to become Fae: To change your destiny. But I must warn you that a human girl will be your undoing. She will be the curse breaker of Prythian that you will put everyone into." His ominous voice shivered my bones. He removed his hood and I could see his awfully boney face, his head looked like a shaved chicken. He smiled at me. "Today, the odds seem to be in your favor hence I will give you something to turn your dream into reality. But you have to make one promise to me Amna."

I bow my head and see his fingers tapping at his thigh.

"And what is that Oh Suriel?", I reply

"I want to give you some of the darkest of the dark magic that is made by the oldest witches Under The Mountain. This will give you power and guidance. But first, you have to promise me one thing, promise me that you will never seek to kill the clan of Suriel when you come to power."

I looked up at his bald, boney face that offered such treachery that no one could ever know it existed.

"I promise." I said.

And that very moment, I fell into a deep trance. And then, I could feel an indescribable strength in my hands, in my eyes and all over my body. There was rage and power that ruled my senses, a power unquenchable, untamable. I shuddered for a few seconds and I felt like I was possessed.

I looked up at the Suriel and let this encounter with him seep into me. I gave a smirk and walked towards him, "Not until I sacrifice you heart," I ripped his heart right out of his chest. With his thick black beating heart in my hands, I could control him and have the infinite knowledge that the Suriel has. A certain darkness that I never felt before consumed the very core of my soul. This was the beginning of my destiny. The genesis of my legacy, the legacy that I can control. I could control the Suriel because I could, and I sensed that he loved me.


	5. Chapter 5

The next night, I packed my bags of supplies and the Suriel's heart in a brown old worn down box. The odds were in my favor since this month was my turn to deliver to the palace of Hybern. I waited 6 long months which was more than enough time to plot out my plan and do my research about the goings and comings of the palace. I reached the musty edge of the land, with the salty air blowing through my face, calling me from Hybern to attain my victory. My innocent looks were advantageous to lure the guards of the ship to let me in. And my history of being the "good girl" would also trick him to not know what I had hidden in my bags of supplies.

"May I check your bags please?" One of the guards asked me as he held my arm to stop me from entering.

I say, "They're just wheat supplies, you see me every 6 months."

He gives me a look and takes his sword as I open my sacks. My heart beats louder when he checks the third bag, that was where I stored the Suriel's heart in between the layers of the refined white powder. He looks up and I give him a dead stare. He passes on to the other bags shifting his sword into the powders barely scratching halfway. Once he was done, he looked up and said, "You can go."

I found a place to sit comfortably among the other women in this section of the ship, leaning my head back to relax. Some of these women might be prostitutes, others might be deliverers of food, magical objects and hard to find products to the king. No matter what, they were all there to deliver something and bring a wage to their homes. Nobody seemed to be friendly enough to greet me. Most of them are having their sleepy heads relaxed, tired for the day. Others are talking amongst themselves in low voices. As the night falls deeper, I and my sore muscles with me drift away into sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

A new day arose and we reached the shores of the magnificent Hybern. The air is lighter than Prythian and the city is lively with its innumerable domes, little brick huts and many sellers cackling for customers. The palace of Hybern stands out of all the other structures of the city with its overpowering dome among the land. I am led to take a cart and the driver helps me up along with my supply. I sit and I seem alert of my surroundings. Power is everything, I think to myself. Power is the source of strength. Love is weakness. This is the truth of the world, no matter how unfortunate that may sound.

The king's minister of foreign supplies and trade was sitting on his velvet throne with delivery women standing in line with their supplies. The lady was delivering her apples while I entered the Court. "Here's 50 kilos of apples, sir." The lady with her sacks of apples offers to the minister in a soft voice. The minister doesn't open his mouth and keeps his head held high while throwing her money into her lap. A few women later and after an hour of standing with my heavy sacks, I come forward.

"Here's 48 kilos of wheat, sir." I say as I curtesy and bow my head in front of him.

"What happened to the 2 kilos remaining Amna? Gone with the wind like your hair?" He said to me, critiquing my untamed bush specifically.

I said, "Sir, you are aware of the loss of our wheat crops due to the war. We tried our best but this was the last bundle and we're offering this to you."

The minister is quiet for a second and gives me a hard look with those piercing blue eyes.

"You know we are strict with our supplies, but I'll let you go this time. Here's 48 coins. You only receive what you give." He said.

"Oh thank you for your kindness sire!"

I get to my feet and kiss his.

He seems to be satisfied by all the butt kissing I'm doing and says, "Now go on, I don't have time to waste with you."

I leave the room and ask the guard, "Uhhh, excuse me, where's the lavatory? You see, I have a disease, if I don't go to the restroom on time, I might bleed on the whole palace."

He gives me a hard look as if he's figuring out whether I'm telling the truth. "Go up a flight of stairs and to your right." He leans forward and whispers, "Now, young lady, if I see you loitering around the palace trying to steal gold or jewels, you know the consequences. Just go to the restroom and leave."

"Of course sir, I mean, why would I do that. I am from a family of honest people." I reply with a slight fluttering in my voice.

"What's in your bag?" He asks, trying to reach for my satchel.

Oh Cauldron. I relax and open my satchel to his searching eyes. He sees the box as I quickly put my intent on it. He sees a mini water skin that I transferred into it. The Suriel's heart is inside my panties. It feels so uncomfortable with that throbbing thing hugging my privates. The guard gives a bottom to top look at me once again and gestures me to go.

I take the stairs up and I wait for the guard to leave. As soon as he's out of sight, I hurry 3 flights down. This is where the Cauldron resides. I can feel the darkness gushing out of it as I come near its presence. I hide near the corners, save for my petite figure. I take the heart out of the box and whisper into it, "Now, how do I get in safely?" As I stroke the throbbing object into my hand. It whispers back while I place my ear to near it.

"Close your eyes and use the spell to shift into a roach that I will implant it in your brain. The heavy stones won't be able to detect a roach's presence"

I put my satchel in a dark corner and I keep the Suriel's heart in it. My work with him is done. I become the roach and everything seems enormously huge. My legs are more dangly than usual. But yes, this is the moment to crawl like a pest. But the next few moments with make everyone else crawl the same way. I reach for the stone and get on the wall. I look for a hole to go through. There's one a bit higher but I am determined to reach. Holding on the cold hard stone below my dangly legs, I am making my way up to the wall slowly and steadily.

Oh gods. I find myself back to the dark, slippery floor and had to start climbing again. Half way there and this time,

"But the place was cleaned two days ago Martha! I cleaned it! With my own hands!"

I look to see the familiar faces my history textbook had, long time ago. Those two witches and their corse voices.

"Well, it doesn't look clean to me! Why is there a roach here then!"

The other one points her wrinkly, bones fingers at me. She takes her broom and thuds me down taking me away. Hyberians don't believe in killing animals unless they're to be eaten, not even insects. My eyes catch a little hole in a corner of the Court. Roaches eyes are the strongest. I open my wings to fly for the first time. The witches stand aback with gasps. Silly witches. Scared of a little roach. I get into the hole as fast as I can before their broom catches me. They have confused faces and their sounds fade away as they leave. Once the court is clear, I fly back to the hard, cold stone and finally get in the hole the third time.


	7. Chapter 7

I creeped into the cool, damp, dim lit room with no windows. Reminds me a bit of the lavatory that I have to share with 5 other families every morning. But the legends and myths are true. There is a Cauldron bubbling green mushy liquid that glows. I shift back and am determined to quickly get my deed done. There is a life-size figure of an ancient god, the god of Cauldron. His eyes are studded with rubies and the figure is carved into gold, sculpted with perfection of the ancient humans. Their blood's outcome is this relic. An ancient powerful spell makes this idol change its facial expression and the rubies glow according to the gods mood, so as the legends say, the gods came down on the earth themselves and blessed it to have such power and valor. It's energy is like a gravitational field that pulls you through. More like a black hole. I control the sound of my breath and inaudible footsteps. I manage to rip my heart out without a squeal. But the squiggly noises were unavoidable. Just then, an ominous voice calls out of the idol, "Who is here in my chamber! Who woke me from my sleep!" I quickly plop my heart into the boiling pot of Cauldron's liquid. It starts to sizzle and glow more than before.

"Who is trying to be greater than me! Your fate is only death insolent girl!"


End file.
